Air Disc Conversion

[QCDriver]

Does anyone here have any first hand's on, with these conversions?

To me this looks the way to go in the future.

Thanks for your info.

[rhasler]

Does anyone here have any first hand's on, with these conversions?

To me this looks the way to go in the future.

Thanks for your info.

I haven't personally seen any, but the Bendix website would probably be the place to look for info. I believe they are the manufacturer of the currently hyped setup. The older ones were Rockwell/Meritor. I would think the biggest factor would be parts availability. If no one else in your area, or the areas you run in, uses disc brakes I would expect that there would be a wait for parts when it came time to replace pads or discs. Keep in mind that the fewer trucks with this setup the less likely you are to find someone able to work on them correctly, and low parts availbility means parts that need to be replaced don't get replaced sometimes. I would hate put my life on an expensive brake system that I wasn't sure had been fixed correctly!

[QCDriver]

I haven't personally seen any, but the Bendix website would probably be the place to look for info. I believe they are the manufacturer of the currently hyped setup. The older ones were Rockwell/Meritor. I would think the biggest factor would be parts availability. If no one else in your area, or the areas you run in, uses disc brakes I would expect that there would be a wait for parts when it came time to replace pads or discs. Keep in mind that the fewer trucks with this setup the less likely you are to find someone able to work on them correctly, and low parts availbility means parts that need to be replaced don't get replaced sometimes. I would hate put my life on an expensive brake system that I wasn't sure had been fixed correctly!

Thanks for reply, I've been on Bendix site, was refereed by my parts supplier. I would do all the work, that's why I'd like for someone with hands on experience for their thoughts.

Thanks.

[rhasler]

Looking at the literature from Bendix it looks like these are quite a bit different from what Rockwell had out. The Bendix brake doesn't have a power shaft (similar to an S-cam in operation) to wear out, hence no extenal slack adjuster. It looks to me like the entire caliper has to be replaced if the internal adjuster machanism seizes. Brake pads might be easy enough to come by and appear to be pretty simple to replace, but I have my doubts about how easy a caliper assembly would be to get your hands on. These also have brake wear sensors in them which probably means more electrical problems. I think Mack only started offering the Bendix air disc brakes in the last 2 years. I haven't heard anything good or bad about them but I don't know how many trucks were built with them. Maybe not a big enough number to base an opinion on.

[QCDriver]

There is some good info here. Check the service pdf.

http://www.roadranger.com/Roadranger/productssolutions/brakes/airdiscbrakes/index.htm

[rhasler]

There is some good info here. Check the service pdf.

http://www.roadranger.com/Roadranger/productssolutions/brakes/airdiscbrakes/index.htm

Thanks. I'm always wary of new products, especially when there is a lot of "information" available for them. Usually it seems to be mostly sales literature, but Bendix is pretty good about the information they put out and their products are generally pretty bulletproof (assuming they weren't counterfit products and that they are installed correctly). They wouldn't be making the majority of brake valve products, etc. if they didn't build quality products. With all new products it's not what they tell you that's important, it's what they leave out that is. Guess I'm just sceptical when someone tells me I should upgrade from a system that suits my needs without any problems to something pretty unproven at substantial cost to me.

[ThaddeusW]

The modern disc brakes you see without the shaft have been around for a while in Europe (over a decade). And those Bendix disc brake parts and designs are from Knorr Bremse, parent company of Bendix. Knorr is a big foundation brake company along with Wabco and Haldex.

Unfortunately people appear to be hesitant to spec them which is why so few stock the parts. Plenty of parts to be had on a global scale so supply is no problem. I bet they will become near manditory of the feds decide to shorten the mandated braking distance.

Mack doesn't offer any disc brakes on their axles. The airliner axle from Hendrickson does have disc brake options so it might be an option for vendor axles.

[rhasler]

The modern disc brakes you see without the shaft have been around for a while in Europe (over a decade). And those Bendix disc brake parts and designs are from Knorr Bremse, parent company of Bendix. Knorr is a big foundation brake company along with Wabco and Haldex.

Unfortunately people appear to be hesitant to spec them which is why so few stock the parts. Plenty of parts to be had on a global scale so supply is no problem. I bet they will become near manditory of the feds decide to shorten the mandated braking distance.

Mack doesn't offer any disc brakes on their axles. The airliner axle from Hendrickson does have disc brake options so it might be an option for vendor axles.

Regarding stopping distance-you're probably right. Regarding compatible axles-Bendix air disc are available on 12,000 front and 40,000 rear supplier axles as of now. I wonder if they will be available on the Mack FXL axles, as these, I believe, are manufactued by Meritor. Mack has also recently changed the standard production brake from Meritor Q Plus to the Bendix ES. One thing I've learned from working on Mack MP engines is that global supply of parts doesn't neccessarily mean local availability.